Amateur and professional photographers who wish to carry their cameras while engaging in active sports such as skiing, mountain climbing, cycling, river rafting, hunting or boating must use some device to secure the camera closely to their bodies. Zimmerman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,305,148 provided a special snap coupling device which threadably attached to the camera and was looped about a chest belt. Zimmerman's method did not relieve the fatique of the weight of the camera being bourne by the person's neck by the standard neck strap nor did it securely hold the camera in a fixed position.
Kuban, U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,347 taught the use of elastic straps which caused the shoulders to take the weight of the binoculars but the elastic straps permitted the binoculars to bounce annoyingly under strenuous activities such as running, riding, and skiing. Unless the elastic straps were extremely tight, the binoculars could easily slip out from under the elastic chest band. A metal coupling joining the ends of the chest band was a source of damage to the finish of the binoculars.
The Kuban-Hitch, trademark, an unpatented harness, similar to U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,347 replaced the elastic straps with flexible inelastic straps and added an adapter consisting of a pair of metal end plates for carrying a plurality of rubber bands. The Kuban-Hitch is generally only used for holding the camera cases with the camera inside. The camera case or other instrument is enmeshed by the rubber bands. While the Kuban-Hitch, holds the camera more securely than the hitch taught in the Kuban U.S. Pat. No. 3,526,347, it does not limit the camera from bouncing back and forth against the chest due to the rubber bands connecting the ends of the harness. Further, there is no positive holding of the camera and as the rubber bands stretch and lose their elasticity, the holding function of the device deteriorates. Further, if the camera is small, the device will not hold the camera unless additional rubber bands are twisted about the camera, making it difficult to quickly remove it from a held position to a camera ready position.
Brewer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,403, taught the use of a flexible, inelastic harness which eliminates camera bounce and introduced a truly quick release Velcro attachment means. The Velcro attachment, however, required the use of adhesive on the backs of the cameras, which some with expensive cameras objected to.
Brewer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,488, introduced a quick release attachment which gave the sportsman a new level of security without permanently attaching any object to the camera. The attachment, however, proved expensive to make and subject to loss if detached from the camera and not carefully stored in a camera bag.
Brewer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,242 represents the ultimate in camera security but is even more expensive than previous devices and it too is subject to loss if not carefully stored. Further, the previous Brewer devices permitted the camera to tilt forwardly.